2011.08.14

Once Cason read the will and letter from her relative, she and her sleuth team followed a series of clues around the house. Each clue required a special tool to solve, and each super sleuth had chosen a tool out of the box that had been delivered with the letter and will. Here are the nine steps in the mystery:

The first clue was a complicated math problem that required a calculator. The answer was 39321.

The second clue was hidden in a dark corner of a dark room and required a flashlight.

The third clue was 11 feet away from the last one, which required a measuring tape. To get to this clue, they had to open a lock with the combination 39-32-1, which was the answer to the math problem in the first clue.

The fourth clue was a CD that played morse code for the word "shower." This required a morse code chart.

The fifth clue was in a locket in the shower, but was printed so tiny it required a magnifying glass to read.

The sixth clue was near the fireplace and required the use of a compass to find the location of the next clue.

The seventh clue was a locked diary which required both a key and an invisible ink decoder pen to read.

The eighth clue was in the freezer in the basement, and required a thesaurus to find the location of the next clue.

The ninth clue was hidden in an old purse in the kids' dress-up clothes.

With each clue they discovered a torn part of an old paper (which had I aged using tea and the oven), which gave them the final clue.

The "room with more letters than any other" was ours study, which has all our books in it. The "door through which only children can fit" was the access door to our crawlspace, which is about 2.5 feet tall. Inside that door, they found a small treasure box filled with candy jewelry (the most valuable kind for kids).

Here they are trying to work out a clue.

In all, the mystery took about an hour for them to solve. They needed a little help here and there (note to self, never expect home school kids to be able to unlock a combination lock, even with instructions), but for the most part, they figured it all out themselves.

Once they got the treasure, it was time for cake and ice cream. I created a magnifying glass cake based on this idea and this one, and this is what it looked like.

And here are some of the great decorations Elisa threw together.

After eating the yummy cake and opening presents, Cason said goodbye to her sleuthing friends the way Nancy Drew would...with a lemon bar in its own little box. (We couldn't find any tins.)

When it was all over, Cason said "I don't want to sound mean about all the other parties you've given me, but this was the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!"

So, we like to sometimes go all out for Cason's birthdays. This year, she wanted a Nancy Drew theme, since she's been reading the books voraciously. In our typical fasion, Elisa and I waited for creativity to "strike," which or course, it didn't really until the day before. We had some rough ideas, but the majority of this came together in an all day and all night barrage of birthday activity.

In all fairness, we got most of these ideas from other blogging moms, here and here and here and here and here.

The invitations, which were about the only thing we did early, looked like a Nancy Drew book. The cover image looked like this:

As guests arrived on the day of the party, I took their pictures and printed out their sleuth identification badge, which was laminated and worn on a lanyard.

While all the guests were arriving, the girls cut out paper dolls I found while watching an episode of the Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries on Netflix.

Once eveyone arrived, we handed out their sleuthing kits, which contained party favors for them to take home:

2011.08.04

The country was deep in debt. One political party favored a strong central government, and developed a plan to take care of the debt. Another political party favored less centralized government and developed a different plan that would reduce the debt but not increase the size or power of the federal government. The former proposal was voted down in Congress, but ultimately, in order to protect the credit-worthiness of the nation, a deal was struck between the two political parties in which the debt deal was passed in exchange for another concession.

The country: The United States of America

The year: 1790

The key players: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison

After the American Revolution, our young nation collectively owed what amounted to roughly $4.1 Trillion in today's dollars to European nations and individual Americans. Hamilton's debt assumption plan called for the federal government to assume all the debts of the states and pay them off through selling bonds and creating various taxes and tariffs. A deal was brokered between Hamilton and Madison at the home of Thomas Jefferson, through which Hamilton's deal was pushed through Congress - with support from Madison - while Hamilton and the northern contingent allowed the site of the future U.S. Capitol to be situated along the Potomac river.

If this deal had not gone through, our young nation might have split up before the constitution was even written. Or, worse yet, Philadelphia could be our nation's capitol!

So next time you find yourself lamenting over the state of our nation, its enormous debt, and the ridiculous political negotiations that go on behind closed doors, just remind yourself that some things never change!!